My Excuses, for what their worth...

*****OK, so I just went back and re-read my post. All I can say is WOW, I really need to proof read these thing before I press the publish button! My apologies too all who already read it. I think I have the mistakes out now! I think I must have been so excited to actually be publishing a post that I got carried away!


So I am sure there are a few of you (granted a small few - but a few none the least) that are wondering why I haven't been blogging these past few months. Well, I have reasons, they may not be the best reasons, but their mine. The first has to do with my latest obsession, coupons. I know it sounds lame, I know to a lot of you it probably doesn't sound nearly as fun as blogging, but you have no idea - so let me educate you! :) Like most of you, I would always see the news clips with ladies saving an unbelievable amount of money using coupons. I was skeptical, yet curious. I tried it a few times and decided it wasn't worth my time. It was always hard to customize it for the stores in my area and I figured that I would end up buying things I wouldn't use anyway, so I would eventually give up. Then last fall I gave it one more try. Except that this time I had a partner in crime. My friend Charity had started up the quest once again and was making more progress than I ever had. She had a cousin that told her about some great web sites and with that information, we took off and haven't looked back since. It took a while for us to perfect the process, the organizing and the all the local stores coupon polilcies, but doing it with a friend made it really fun. So... just how good are we talking? Well, last time I went to Publix I had a cart full of groceries, I spent $28.00 and saved $114.00. Not every trip is as good as this but I do save a least minimun of 60% most every time I go, usually more. I have always given them a higher value in coupons than I do in actual cash. I am sure you are now thinking that I must be buying things I wouldn't normally buy. Nope! I am buying things I would normally buy and also things I would have liked to buy but maybe wouldn't because of the price. My pantry and freezer are so full I have had to get creative on where to keep stuff! Last Monday I bought 5 boxes of Post Select Cranberry and Almond (It's Sean's favorite so I stock up when it's on sale) for $1.00, not $1.00 a box, $1.00 for 5 boxes or 0.20 per box! For those of you that know how much I love a good deal, you can understand how much fun I have been having! For anyone interested who lives in the south, my favorite website for help is www.southernsavers.com . For anyone else you can look up help for your area at the grocery gathering at www.becentsable.net . They have a compiled list of helpful blogs for different areas.
There is a cute story to all of the coupon madness. Obviously my kids are learning the value of searching for good deals and coupons. They love it when I buy something for nothing or when the manufacture actually pays me to take the product from the store. Apparently Jackson started collecting coupons when we would go to the store (he would take them out of the little red boxes, or blinkies, located in the iles or from tear pads...anywhere he could find them. Then, on Mother's Day he brought me a big old pile of wadded up coupons, and with a proud smile on his face gave me a hug and said, "Happy Mother's Day, Mom." It was priceless. Knowing that he had thought about what would make me happy, planned it out and had done it all by himself made it so special to me. Gotta love that kid! In honor of mothers day... here are some pix of me and my boys.